iv. 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐩𝐬𝐞

Two girls were sitting on the old couch in the lobby of an apartment building, giggling quietly, with an open bag of chips between them. They were hanging out almost every day, but this time their meeting was accidental. Soojin was leaving the building for the night shift to the restaurant where she worked, while Nayeon came back from her work.

From the elevator walked out to the another girl with unhappy look on her face, but it was typical for Lee Eunyoo. She walked to the couch, and took one chip, throwing it to her mouth.

"Hey!" Nayeon hit her hand

"Aren't you supposed to be at work?" asked Eunyoo, looking at Soojin

"Aren't you supposed to be at school?" she snapped back

But even that, she looked at the time on her phone. She stopped chewing the chip and clicked her tongue.

"Aish, she's right, I'm almost late," Soojin stood up, taking her small bag on arm, "You two have fun, later!"

"You're leaving me with her?" scoffed Nayeon irritated, but her friend only waved with the hand

Eunyoo chuckled, and sat on the girl's place, taking a bag of chips in her hands. Nayeon looked at her even more mad, and snatched food from her. The younger girl stuck out her tongue.

   Soojin was walking quickly to the exit, at the same time looking in her bag to check if she took her apron. And while she wasn't paying attention to where she's going, she hit someone with her body.

"I'm sorry," she said, bending to pick up a green duct tape that fell

She raised her head, and held out a hand to the man to give him back his tape, but he didn't care about it, and just kept walking to the elevator. The girl looked at him surprised.

   He looked like some gangster. His right side of the face had scars, looking like scars after burning, and his gaze was very odd. And the fact that the thing that he lost was this duct tape, make her have weird impression of him.

But she didn't have time to stood there and think about this man. She put a tape to her bag, and continued her quick walk to the bus stop.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

Cha Hyunsoo twisted on the other side of his mattress, taking the phone in his hand. The message that showed on the screen, announced that his package with reserves of ramyeon was left in front the doors. He put on slippers, and walked to them.
When he opened the door, he saw a big package, but it looked like someone already opened it and took out the food. All the dry noodles were scattered all over the floor, leading to the end of the corridor.

"What the hell?" whispered confused boy

He walked out of the apartment. He followed the traces of dry food, stomping on it. Noodles were quietly crunching under his weight.

He stopped, when she saw a cat's head thrown in the corridor. Hyunsoo's mouth dropped, as he was trying not to make any sound. A skinny hand, all in blood, caught the cat's head, and slowly dragged on the floor, leaving a blood behind.

Hyunsoo tried to slowly come back to his apartment, but when he took a step without looking down, his foot landed on one of the package if ramyeon. A loud crunch sounded. He took a deep breath.

"I'm hungry!" yelled a raspy voice

There's no reason to hide anymore. Hyunsoo turned around and rushed to his apartment, locking the door behind. He jumped on the mattress, hiding under the bedding, breathing heavily.

He heard footsteps, slowly becoming louder. The doorbell rang.

"Excuse me? Are you in?" asked a soft woman's voice, "Help me. I'm so scared, please help me?"

Her sobbing, convinced the boy to check on her. He got up from the mattress.

Hyunsoo picked the handset, and pulled it to his ear. On the small screen appeared a woman, looking very scared.

"Hello?" whispered the boy, "Are you okay?"

The woman sighed relieved, "You're there"

"What happened to you?"

"I just came home, and the door was wide open, and it was a mess inside. And my cat was gone," she cried, "The floor.... It was covered in blood. Please help me"

"Okay, alright. Why don't you calm down?" suggested Hyunsoo, "Hang on. I'm gonna call the police. Okay?"

He put down the handset, and went to get his cellphone. The woman was begging him to open the door. Hyunsoo picked the emergency number, but there wasn't any signal.

"What the hell?" he whispered, putting down the phone

He walked back to the screen, where he could see the woman crying.

"Show me your arms"

"What?" woman stopped sobbing

"Arms. I need to see your arms now"

The woman's eyes for one second turned black, "What did you say?" she smiled

"Show me your arms"

The blood started to dripping from her nose, "Open the door! Open the door! Open the door!"

Her furious screaming could be heard in the whole corridor. She banged on the doors, screaming, crying, while the flows of blood were strolling down her face and neck. Her eyes were black. She started laughing hysterically.

Hyunsoo took a step back scared. The doorbell ringed all the time, and the woman didn't stop acting crazy.

The muffled music of guitar, was heard by both of them. The woman stopped screaming, her head twisted on the side.

She started giggling, "I'm hungry"

｡･:*:･★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

At the same time, Soojin finally appeared on the 14th floor after almost an hour of climbing on all the stairs, because the elevator didn't work. Not only that, but she was coming back from night shift, where she had to stay more hours than usually, because she was asked to, and she couldn't say no. Her legs were almost numb, and her breathing was very heavy. She was tired, and sleepy, only waiting to fell on her bed, and sleep how long she wanted. But first, she had to go through the corridor to her apartment.

She slowed her steps, seeing scattered packs of instant ramyeon all over the floor. The biggest package was laying under the apartment 1410. The girl walked forward slowly, when the loud crunch sounded. She looked down, and took her foot from the piece of dry noodles.

She heard a hissle from far away. The music of the guitar still played. Soojin raised her head to see a woman, standing on the other end of the corridor. There wouldn't be anything wrong with that, beside the fact that all her face, neck and arms were dirty from blood. She turned around to look at the girl, and she grimaced, happy. Her eyes were black.

   Soojin gasped, trying to take a step back, but her body was paralysed.

"I'm hungry!" Yelled woman, "Food!"

Soojin couldn't be so sure about it, but she had a feeling that she was the food, the woman was talking about.

   She rushed to the girl, pulling out her bloody hands. Soojin had nowhere to run. She could turn away, but she was too tired for running down all the stairs again, knowing that the woman is faster. Besides, she couldn't move, her legs stopped working.

    She took a deep breath, ready for the worst, when the door she was standing next to opened. Someone grabbed her hand, and pulled inside the apartment. The door closed loudly, so the woman started banging on them.
   The girl fell on the floor, well to be exact, she fell on someone. Hyunsoo coughed, when she hit him with her elbow on stomach. Soojin didn't move, ignoring the fact that she was laying on the boy. She stared at the doors, scared.

"What the fuck was that," she whispered. She twisted her head to Hyunsoo, "I'm sorry"

   She got off him, embarrassed, leaning on her elbows. The teenagers laid down on the floor, breathing heavily. The boy slowly got up from the floor. He was shaking, but even that, he stood on the legs. Soojin followed him, also standing up.

The music started playing, so the muffled sound of it echoed through the corridors. The woman stopped banging on the door, and slowly walked from the camera, so they couldn't see her anymore. The footsteps and giggling were slowly getting more quiet, and soon the teenagers couldn't hear her. But the music still played.

Hyunsoo hold his hair in sign of stress. Soojin took a deep breath.

"Hey, are you okay?" she put her hand on his arm unsure

"Yeah, I'm just..." he didn't finish his thought

   His attention got to a broom that was leaning on the wall. He took it, and smashed on the board, making it break. He was now holding just a stick. The boy walked to the door.

"Wait," he looked at the Soojin, who rushed to his kitchen. She opened one of the drawers, looking through the cutlery. She picked the biggest knife she could find, "Can I take it?"

Hyunsoo nodded his head. Soojin closed the drawer, and walked to him.

   She didn't have any idea, why would they leave the apartment, but she followed the boy. He opened the door, and looked around the corridor. There wasn't anyone.

    Hyunsoo walked outside, holding the stick in front him. Soojin was standing behind him, looking around, with her knife up in the air.

   All over the floor was blood. While the girl tried not to stomp on it, Hyunsoo didn't seem to notice how his feet got dirty. The music still played.

   The slow footsteps were coming from the stairs. The teenagers stopped.

"Someone is in there," whispered Soojin

   She noticed Hyunsoo's arm, pulled out on the side, so she could stay back.

"Blood," said man's voice, "There's a lot of blood"

From the corner appeared the same man that Soojin saw in the morning. The one that looks like a gangster.

    He was looking at the floor interested, when he raised his head to look at the teenagers.

"Sir, did you..." started Hyunsoo, "Did you see a weird woman just now?"

The gangster came closer to them. The girl stepped a bit forward.

"She was all in blood, and..."

   The boy slowly bent on the side, and then he fell on the floor, right between them. Soojin gasped surprised. His stick fell on the floor with metal bang. She squatted next to him. His eyes were closed, but he was breathing. Soojin tapped him on the cheek gently.

"Hyunsoo?"